Abstract:
A study was conducted to assess the effect of nongenetic factors on the reproductive performance of Sanga and
Friesian×Sanga crossbred dairy cattle kept at Amrahia Dairy
Farm, Ghana. Records on 66 crossbred Friesian×Sanga and
105 purebred Sanga cattle from 2005 to 2012 were used. The
effect of sex of calf (male or female), season of calving (major,
minor and dry), year of calving (2005–2012) and parity (first
to third) on birthweight, calving interval and age at first
calving were determined. The data were analyzed using the
general linear model procedures of GenStat (Discovery Edition). The effect of parity of dam, year of calving, season of
calving and sex of calf were considered as fixed effects for
evaluating the different reproductive traits. Data on calving
and conception rates over the period were 74.3 and 76.1 %,
respectively. The overall mean values for birthweight, age at
first calving and calving interval obtained were 23.9±1.5 and
22.8±1.4 kg, 38.8±2.5 and 40.2±2.4 months and 390.8±12.5
and 413.6 ± 12.1 days for the crossbred and Sanga,
respectively. It was observed that all the major determinants
of reproductive performance studied apart from birthweight
were significantly influenced by year of birth, parity, season of
calving and sex
